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Liberal governments reject school plan

Lisa Martin

Liberal state and territory governments have rejected proposals by federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett for a national plan to improve schools.

Mr Garrett asked his state and territory counterparts on Monday to agree to principles of the national plan, but only three came on board.

Funding of the Gonski school reforms, which involve injecting an extra $6.5 billion a year into schools, were not part of telephone discussion.

South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT signed up, but Liberal-run WA, Victoria, Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory refused.

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Elements of the plan include more support and higher entry standards for trainee teachers, individual learning plans for struggling students and more control and power for school principals.

The full details have not yet been released.

Mr Garrett said the plan would still go to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting for consideration by the prime minister and state and territory leaders on April 19.

"Education ministers who refused to endorse them today need to go back to their communities and explain to schools and to parents exactly why they haven't supported them," Mr Garrett said in a statement.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon described Mr Garrett's comments as "extraordinary", given he had asked that details of the meeting not be discussed publicly.

"We were prepared to have a discussion in good faith, and for minister Garrett to then throw that back in our face is hugely disappointing," Mr Dixon said.

"This is not about outcomes and policy for minister Garrett. It's about politics."

A spokeswoman for Queensland education minister John-Paul Langbroek told AAP the minister wasn't able to participate in the discussion. The department's director-general had acted as a proxy but was not able to approve the plan.

Queensland on Monday announced its own plan to improve teacher quality under a scheme worth $535 million over four years from 2015.

Earlier, Mr Garrett said the funding model for the national school plan was in the final stages of negotiation.

He defended the approach of asking states to sign up to principles without knowing how much they would cost.

"Questions around funding envelopes will continue to be negotiated through the appropriate officials," Mr Garrett said in Canberra.

Coalition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said he was amazed that three governments had agreed without knowing the price tag.

"It is beyond a joke that a week before the Council of Australian Governments meeting where school funding will supposedly be agreed upon, state governments still do not have the details," he said in a statement.

The Australian Greens said it was "serious mismanagement" by Mr Garrett to leave negotiations so late and still refuse to give funding details.

"But the state premiers must also be held accountable for playing politics at such a crucial time," they said in a statement.

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the funding system was broken and under-investment in schools was denying children access to a high quality education.

"The economic and social costs of failing to act will be enormous and it is this that all political leaders must keep in mind in the lead-up to COAG," he said.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said he was disappointed at the commonwealth's "politicisation" of the Gonski negotiations.

"All that was agreed by all states and territories at today's meeting was that further work needs to be done on the National Plan for School Improvement," Mr Piccoli said in a statement.

WA Premier Colin Barnett says his government received the commonwealth's financial assumptions only last Friday.

"It is disappointing to be receiving information a week out from COAG - leaving us little time to analyse the proposals and have a constructive discussion about what's on the table," Mr Barnett said in a statement.

"We are not going to rush it."

South Australian Education Minister Jennifer Rankine said her state supported the national education plan.

"We hope that other states will come on board," she said in a statement.